Puppet Love
by Sehrezad
Summary: Pinocchio didn't leave baby Emma but he stayed with her, protected her… until the day his feelings for the girl became too confusing. After ten years and with Emma back in his life, he contemplates his feelings and actions while he's slowly turning back into a puppet. August/Emma
1. Chapter 1

**Puppet Love**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Summary: Pinocchio didn't leave baby Emma but he stayed with her, protected her… until the day his feelings for the girl became too confusing. After ten years and with Emma back in his life, he contemplates his feelings and actions while he's slowly turning back into a puppet. (August/Emma)_

_And here it is, my very first _Once Upon a Time_ fic. Wow…_

Chapter 1

He groaned when Emma's image ran through his mind in spite of his best efforts to clear his head and chase away all thoughts.

He was in agony. Physically he wasn't able to do anything to stop the searing pain that held his slowly changing body in its grasp so he tried his best to stop the torturing thoughts that attacked his mind while he lay helpless in his bed.

But the uninvited thoughts kept coming…

He was fighting with his immense guilt that, though it had been his constant companion during the years, he had always managed to lock into the furthest corner of his mind. Now that in the face of his ultimate failure life was slowly leaving his body, he had no strength left to run away from his self-reproach. And maybe he shouldn't do it, either. He'd been doing that in the last ten years.

Maybe it was time to admit the truth. And for him, truth and guilt walked hand in hand.

There were so many things to feel guilty about… so many people he had failed.

His dear old father who went against everybody and everything he believed in just to keep him safe. The father who trusted him… loved him.

Then there were the royal couple. Even though they had no way of knowing it but he was their daughter's only support in a strange world where they were supposed to follow her. He was Emma's only connection to a world she had never seen… and ultimately he was the only hope of all the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest for guiding their Savior on the right path.

He had failed his world… and Emma.

His Emma. The little baby girl who had come into this strange world having only him to count on. The little toddler who always reached for him when she tried to put her tiny feet in front of the other with a little proud smirk playing on her lips. The little girl who listened to his stories, hanging on his every word, always eager to hear about fairy-tale land. The skeptic always down-to-earth teen who called him crazy because he kept on talking about a land where magic existed.

The angry fourteen-year-old whom he found throwing up after a party where she shouldn't have gone at the first place and who, after calling her upon her drinking, lit on a cigarette just to make it clear for him that she wanted to go on her own way. The disillusioned sixteen-year-old who came to him after a boy from twelfth grade took advantage of her just for the next day to embarrass her in front of his popular friends.

And the seventeen-year-old Emma who was lying next to him nestled into his arms, sleeping peacefully. The Emma he left behind because he felt too ashamed of his conduct the night before to be able to look into the girl's eye. The girl he had always thought of as his sister… the girl for whom he had feelings that had nothing to do with brotherly love.

That morning, he had to realize that he had fallen in love with her… and he left.

The reasons behind his leaving were clear in his mind. He knew that he had done the right thing even if it had killed him. What made him feel so guilty about it was the fact that he had put Emma in that situation.

And if it hadn't been enough that he had left her to fend for herself even before she'd have turned eighteen, he had left her with a child, too. It didn't take him long to figure out who Henry's father was. The kid looked just like him.

Every time he ran into the boy or he just saw him, he couldn't help pondering the what-ifs. It was easy enough to imagine a world where they all stayed together living happily ever after but he never lost sight of reality. In life not everyone had their happy ending... at least not in a land without magic.

Maybe that was what they all needed... magic.

Truth was that however hard it was to admit, Emma did the right thing when she gave the boy up for adoption. Henry's whole life would have been screwed up from the beginning either way whether he had stayed with Emma or with the both of them.

Even if he could have accepted his feelings for her, it wouldn't have taken Emma long to realize that her feelings for him were not what she claimed them to be. There would have come a time when Emma found herself… when she realized that she didn't need him… when she found out what she reslly wanted from life.

He didn't want her to feel trapped.

Maybe it had been the coward way out but he still believed he had done the right thing.

The only problem was that in all his argumentation, he had forgotten about an important thing – he had forgotten his task to make Emma believe. Of course the always rational girl had long ceased to believe in fairy-tales but, after leaving, he killed every chance of her ever doing so.

In ten years, the first time when he thought about the curse was when killing pain shot through his leg one morning.

He knew then that he had no choice but to face her. And after a long time, he felt himself ready to face her. Sure she'd be angry at him or worse, indifferent towards him, but he was prepared for that. He was sure he could face her without those disturbing feelings that had made him run all those years ago. He went to meet the Emma who had been trusted into his care as a baby.

What he wasn't prepared for was to meet a beautiful young woman who didn't remind him of the young girl whom he had last seen at all.

He was right, though – he was able to face her without being confused about his feelings. It weren't his feelings for a child that came rushing back to him but his feelings for the woman. He fell in love with Emma Swan all over again. And this time he was all right with it.

Emma, though, while she didn't hate him, didn't trust him, either. And it made his task to make her believe all the more difficult.

* * *

"_For how long do you plan on giving me the silent treatment?" August ran after her when Emma left the diner without a sideway glance in his direction. It was obvious that she decided on pretending to be strangers._

"_Until you realize that there is nothing I want from you," Emma threw behind her back without stopping in her track._

"_Apart from, of course, finding out my reason to be here."_

"_I'm the Sheriff of this town… and people are getting suspicious."_

"_For God's sake, Emma, stop hiding behind your badge. You don't want to talk about what happened between us? Fine. But don't act like a sulking five-year old refus…"_

"_You want to bring up the past?" Emma stopped so abruptly that, when she turned around, August almost bumped into her. "Here is what I've got to say – Go to hell."_

"_Good, you're angry. That's a good start."_

_The understanding look on his face seemed to take the wind out of Emma's sails as she slowly shook her head, her attacking stance disappearing._

"_I'm not angry… I'm disappointed in you." And this confession hit August in the face like nothing else. He just wanted the best for her but all he had managed to accomplish was to let her down. "Do you have any idea how humiliated I felt? If it hadn't been enough that the whole school thought I was an easy lay, the only person I trusted… the one I loved, betrayed me. You used me like all the other guys," she spat at him with disgust._

"_No," he denied vehemently. He knew what those boys had thought when they tried to chat her up… when some of them managed to sweet talk her… and he was not one of them. "Don't compare me to those immature scumbags."_

"_Why not? You slept with me, you left. God knows, maybe you had a good laugh at my expense."_

"_You have no idea how I felt," he raised his voice, too, just because he got frustrated by Emma not seeing the other side of the coin._

"_Damn right," she drawled in her voice low with anger. "And I didn't care, either."_

"_I felt ashamed," he admitted with a pained expression hoping for Emma to understand him. But all he got in response was a disgusted scoff._

"_Ashamed? That's rich."_

"_Emma, you have to understand," he started as Emma tightened her jaw. He ignored her and continued. "You have to understand that I've known you since you were a baby. I saw you grow up. I always thought of you as a child and then there were you… a beautiful young woman whom I have fallen in love with. I just couldn't make sense of my feelings."_

"_You didn't even try," she pointed out, her still low voice hitching by the end as tears of frustration appeared in her eyes._

_August took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he told her because he didn't know what else to say._

"_No, you're not. If you were sorry, it hadn't taken ten years for you to show up."_

"_All right. I'm not sorry. I did what I thought was the best for you. What we did was wrong… what I felt for you was wrong… and me staying would have been wrong."_

"_Why? What was so wrong in loving me?" she asked dejectedly._

"_You were just a kid, Emma… a confused, bitter girl who was yet to find herself. Maybe we should have faced the consequences together. Maybe we should have raised Henry together… But can you honestly tell me that it would have worked out, truly worked out?"_

"_I loved you," Emma confessed in a horse voice._

"_No, you didn't... not in a way that would have mattered if I had stayed. And you know that. You loved me like family… you had a childlike admiration for me because I was the only male figure in your life. You needed me. That was what you translated as love."_

"_Well," Emma straightened as her features turned cold. "Good thing's I don't need you anymore," she told him and, turning on her heels, she stormed away._

"_No," August watched her leave with a pained look. "You don't. I need you."_

* * *

He didn't know whether it had been wise to bring up the past and his actions that were undoubtedly viewed as betrayal by Emma but his confrontation with the woman and her subsequent outburst proved to be fruitful. At their next encounter they could act civil and August was sure that they were on the road to rebuild their relationship that, he hoped, meant just as much for Emma as it did for him.

And this time he was completely aware of the task lying before him and he was determined to fulfill his obligations. And he hoped that in the meantime he could get to know the woman whom the girl he had last seen ten years ago had grown into.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Emma was calling his name from behind it and the door flew open after he had told her he couldn't open the door.

That look in her eyes when she saw him – half human, half puppet, she was shocked. And it only meant one thing: she believed.

He should have felt relieved because it meant that the end was near; Emma would find a way to break the curse and it all would end… even if he'd not be around to see it. All he could feel, though, was fear. He feared for Emma because in her eyes he couldn't see the Emma he'd got to know since he arrived in Storybrook; all he could see was the little girl who had always run to him when something bothered her… it was the desperate look of a girl who believed that he could make everything better.

But it wasn't his fight and the time when he could be of any help had passed.

He had failed her.

And all he could hope as he whispered his last encouraging words for her was that she'd rise above her fears and insecurities and dare to open her heart – because, as clichéd as it might sound in a land without magic, love can indeed make people do the greatest things.

**TBC**

_Well, I'm still not sure what I think about their relationship in this one but I went with the idea anyway. Maybe I can figure it out by the end of the story. :)_

_Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Puppet Love**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

Chapter 2

It'd been a week since the curse was broken. Seven days since her life became a real fairy-tale.

In those past days she had seen the most curious things.

She'd seen Snow White reunite with the seven dwarfs and they all greeted Little Red Riding Hood like a dear old friend.

It turned out that the young girl at the hairdresser's with the blond spiky hair was Rapunzel and Henry gleefully informed her that her prince was the blind pianist who plays in the restaurant on Friday nights. She also learnt that the two siblings she managed to reunite with their father a couple of months ago were in fact Hansel and Gretel. She bumped into them a couple of days ago as they were happily munching on some ginger bread in the fair that had been in full swing celebrating the break of the curse.

She also heard rumors that Rose, who worked at the hairdresser's with Andy – well, with Rapunzel – had just thrown herself into Freddie's arms down in the square not long after the curse had been broken. Emma never really liked Rose because she thought the redhead was all too full of herself and she was quite cruel with Freddie, the young and admittedly not too attractive Biology teacher with a strange fascination with frogs from Henry's school who'd been pinning after her forever. Well, at least his creepy fascination with frogs had been explained when Henry told her that Freddie was the Frog Prince.

All these things – and even more – were happening around her and she met – or at least saw – all the characters (well, people actually, because that what they were: real, flesh and blood breathing people) involved and yet she still couldn't believe what was lying in front of her.

August… Pinocchio was lying on the bed in his father's house… in the form of a wooden puppet. Not once had she found the thought ironic that in a time when all fairy-tale characters came to life, only the little boy who so wanted to be a real boy remained an unmoving object.

Truth was that in all the turmoil that was around her, she had completely forgotten about August at first. It was only when she caught her parents and old Marco in the middle of a heated argument did she remember what had happened.

Hearing Pinocchio's name come up, she stood mortified for a few seconds remembering how August turned into a wooden puppet right in front of her own eyes. Her first instinct was to go back to the man and check upon him but when she caught another part of the argument, she couldn't help but stay and make her presence known.

Hearing for the first time what had really transpired around the time of her birth, she stood stunned, her mind reeling with emotions she couldn't really make any sense of. The last few hours were just too much for her – Henry dying, Henry waking up again because of a kiss, breaking the curse and meeting her parents for the first time… the purple fog – it all took a serious toll on her state of mind.

And again, August's image came to her mind and she just couldn't bring herself to feel angry at the old man, Gepetto for sending her son with her.

She understood her parents' desperations and admired the old man's devotion to his son. Finally she asked her parents to try to forgive Gepetto because he had only done what every other parent – among them the royal couple – would have done for their child.

Then she left for Granny's just to find the man still turned into wood.

Not long after that Gepetto came for his son and they moved him into the old man's house. That was where Emma had spent the greater part of a week.

When she wasn't roaming the streets with an excited Henry or wasn't spending some quality time with her parents – which felt quite awkward most of the times –, she was sitting in the room with August trying to sort out her thoughts that had become a huge jumble of mess during the days.

She was still occupied by her wry amusement regarding August's situation when a voice in her head observed ruefully, "Guess bad boys don't get their wish after all."

Emma's head snapped in the direction of her son when he spoke up as if reacting to her thoughts. "You should be more understanding," Henry pointed out with a serious expression, sitting next to her on the couch clutching his book. "He didn't have a choice when he came here. He had to look after you."

"Good, now I'm the one to blame," Emma snapped without any reason. A part of her brain knew that she was just being unfair but she readily ignored it. "I was nothing but a burden for him."

"I didn't say that," Henry stated calmly.

"It sure sounded so," she remarked. God, she was exhausted. "But you know what? Never mind. I don't want to talk about it… especially not with you. We can come back to the subject in, say, ten years… if ever."

"He was just a little boy when he came here…" Henry continued ignoring his mother, "…a little boy with serious problems. He was just learning to be a real boy. Maybe he was afraid of failing. I don't know if you know but it's pretty hard to be a good boy even when somebody tells you how to be so… Imagine how hard it is when there is nobody to tell you what to do."

"Kid, you have no idea what you're talking about."

"That's right," Henry agreed with a troubled sigh that Emma found extremely cute. "But does it help?"

It didn't but the hopeful look in Henry's eyes made Emma smile. "You know what, Kid? It does help," she tousled his hair letting a small smile creep on her lips. "You should go down. I'm sure Mar… Gepetto made some dinner. Then we should head back to Granny's."

They'd moved into Granny's the next day the curse had been broken. Snow White and James seemed inseparable – which was understandable as the young couple had just been reunited – but staying under the same roof as her parents made Emma feel uncomfortable. She was happy for them but she needed space to sort things out and at the moment she could only do it with baby steps as, besides having her son with her, she found everything extremely difficult to deal with.

Henry nodded and, without any protest, he stood up and started for the door where he turned back to Emma with a questioning look.

"You're not coming?"

"I'm right behind you; just give me a few more minutes."

"All right," Henry nodded then turned to leave.

The few more minutes turned into half an hour without Emma noticing then time crept by till Emma was sitting in the room for more than an hour. The creaking of the door pulled her out of her thoughts at last. She looked up to find Gepetto – it still felt strange for her to call the old man that – entering the room and taking his seat next to her.

His eyes lingered for a while on the unmoving form of his beloved son before he turned to the woman next to him.

"I found this among his things when I went to get his belongings," he started, holding out a book-like thing for Emma to take.

"Our photo album," surprised, Emma carefully took the album into her hands and ran her fingers over the purple and green surface. "I've always wondered where it could have disappeared."

"It must mean a lot to him," Gepetto observed regarding Emma with keen eyes.

"Well, obviously more than me," Emma muttered bitterly.

Gepetto was about to say something but he noticed that her features relaxed into a reminiscing smile as Emma opened the album.

"My first Halloween when I was allowed to go out to trick-or-treat," Emma chuckled pointing at a picture on which she was smiling broadly in a Snow White costume while thirteen years old August was standing next to her in a simple shirt and a pair of brown trousers. "I never understood why he insisted on wearing something as simple as that outfit," she turned to Gepetto with a knowing smile. "He was dressed up as Gepetto," she told the old man.

She watched with a gentle expression as tears started to glisten in the old man's eyes as he let out a little embarrassed chuckle and turned towards his son with a sad smile. Apparently he was really touched by this gesture of his son.

For a few moments, Emma found herself unable to tear her eyes away from Gepetto. She knew how she had argued his case a couple of days ago and used his love for his son to justify his actions, but it was the first time that Emma had realized just how deep an affection he must have towards the puppet he himself had carved from wood… and she realized, too, just how much August must have missed his father.

She turned back to the album feeling slightly embarrassed by the affectionate look on the man's face. It was like she'd been intruding in on a moment between father and son.

In silence, she turned some pages then she came to a stop at the last picture. It was taken on her seventeenth birthday. It had been the sixth year she spent without August in the foster system and that year she got an envelope from the older boy. It contained a cut piece of paper – it was a newspaper ad with a picture of a little house on sale. August had told her then that he'd buy that house for them as soon as he got the money.

It was so close – leaving that wretched life in the system, living with August again. He always visited her and spent all of his free time with her but it never was the same as when they both lived under the same roof. August had promised her that. He worked so hard to keep his promise…

But nothing came out of it. Seven months later August was gone and when Emma found out that she was pregnant, she ran away.

Remembering the promise that had never come to be fulfilled, Emma's reminiscing expression hardened.

Gepetto, who silently watched her during her trip down memory lane, didn't miss the change in her demeanor, either and judging by the fact that it was the last picture in the album, it wasn't that hard to guess that was the time when his son left his ward.

"What happened?" he asked in a gentle tone not really expecting the woman to answer.

"We slept together, I got pregnant, he left," was Emma's blunt answer.

It took a few seconds for the old man to fully understand what he had just heard. When he finally did, his first thought was that his Pinocchio must have had a good reason for doing what he had done. The hard expression Emma was wearing, though, told him that the woman didn't see it that way at all.

That was when Gepetto decided upon another course of action – telling her how he trusted that his son had done his best would obviously not work.

"It hurts to admit but he is not the man I hoped him to become," he lamented with a deep sigh. "He promised me that he'd look after you… guide you like your parents would have done. But he did none of that. He abandoned you. I can't even dare to imagine what kind of irresponsible life he must have led."

He was right, Emma agreed with him. August had abandoned her… he had hurt her. But hearing the disappointment in the man's voice who not so long ago was looking at his son with unadulterated love and pride made her protest without any second thought.

"You are not right," she found herself saying with vehemence. "He's a good man. Believe me, he is a far better man than most out there. He's not flawless; nobody is. But there is one thing I know for sure: he always tried to do what was best for me. When I got older I asked him about that – why am I the one he always thinks first? He told me because I was his princess. He even put up with me when I started to act like a bitch and went against everything he said… when I called him a crazy idiot… and much worse," she added, averting her eyes with shame. But she turned back to the man and continued in a more collected manner. "I didn't make his job easy, you know. But it was always me… my well-being, my happiness… my heart," she breathed the last part because at that moment she realized that it had been always true. No matter what he had done, he never did it for himself… it was always her.

Maybe that was the reason why she hadn't felt betrayed by the fact that August had taken her mother's place in the wardrobe. She should have felt angry… cheated out of a life where at least one of her parents would have been with her. But strangely enough she felt none of that. She always wondered why her parents had abandoned her and she would be lying if she denied thinking about a life where her family was intact.

But it was never meant for her. Instead, she'd been given a brave and unselfish little boy who grew into a wonderful man. It wasn't an easy life and August wasn't perfect – and then again neither was she – but she was loved, truly and unconditionally.

"He is a good man," she concluded with conviction and Gepetto gave her a knowing smile at which Emma furrowed her brows in confusion.

"I know he is. And now you do, too." He squeezed her hand before standing up. "I made up a bed for Henry down in the living room. I think he's already turned in for the night. As I shall do, too. You, young lady, take your time. See you in the morning," he told her then he stepped up to his son and, sweeping his hand over his wooden curls, he wished a good night for him, too, before leaving Emma to her thoughts once again.

For a while she just stood staring at the puppet and when it finally sunk in what she had just shared with the old man, she took a shaky breath and pushed herself up from the couch to settle down on the edge of the bed facing August.

She just sat there, holding onto the wooden hand that was lying on the wooden chest and looking into those lifeless eyes that used to smile at her.

She didn't notice that tears had begun flowing down her cheeks but when she finally did, a strangled sob escaped her lips. She pressed a hand in front of her lips trying to control the sobs that shook her body nonetheless while her other hand clenched her mid-drift. She finally gave in, though, and with a desperate cry, she leant over the motionless figure resting her forehead against the hard wood, her hands going back over his… and she wept, wishing for just one more chance that those arms hold her in a loving embrace.

And when she could feel a gentle squeeze on her hands and an arm sneaking around her waist, she melted into the warm chest of the man and let him pull her close, soothing her, protecting her like he always used to do all those years ago. And like all those years ago, she felt safe – amidst all the craziness that the world had become around her, she found peace.

**TBC**

_Well, I originally planned on stopping here but the plot bunnies started demanding more. So be on the look-out there's a third chapter coming… and thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Puppet Love**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_And here it is, the final chapter. Enjoy!_

Chapter 3

At first he didn't give it much thought what being able to hold her implied. Sneaking his hand from between them, he just pulled her closer as she cried. What he paid attention was the sound of the heart wrenching sobs that left her body and the sheer desperation with which she clung to him.

He didn't notice, either that his hands began to draw circles on her back in an attempt to sooth her and that his face pressed into her messy curls.

He only became aware of the fact that he could actually feel the softness of her curls on his cheek, the fabric of her dress under his fingers and the way she melted into him, that the scent of her was invading his senses when Emma calmed down and all he could hear was her soft breathing.

He smiled. She was everywhere and she enveloped him… he was alive.

Without saying a word, he waited till Emma's sobs subsided then finally died away and her breathing evened out. He spent the night lying awake while Emma peacefully slept in his arms.

She'd been up for a while now, though, but apart from the change in her breathing there was no indication of it. She was just lying there in his arms, face pressed against his chest.

"Do you plan on moving anytime soon?" August asked after a while, amusement seeping into his voice.

"Nope," Emma answered pressing her cheek more firmly against his chest. She was actually quite comfortable just lying in bed listening to his heart beating under her ear.

"How did this happen?" He could hear Emma ask and he smiled when, as if stressing her point, she tightened her hold on him.

"Magic," he answered and chuckled when Emma snorted. "You broke the curse," he pointed out the obvious.

"That I did," she sighed.

"What happened? I don't really remember but you were talking about Henry when you came here."

Long silence followed his question and when Emma finally answered, his heart sped up.

"He died," he could hear her whisper.

"What?" He couldn't even recognize his own voice as it hitched with panic.

"Don't worry, he is all right now."

"What?" His voice dropped to its normal tone but it was filled with confusion.

He could feel Emma shaking her head against his chest.

"I woke him. I have no idea how I did it but one minute he was lying there dead and the next, after I'd kissed him good-bye, he was awake… and suddenly everybody remembered."

"True love's kiss, huh?" his features relaxed into a bemused smile. Henry was all right.

"But I didn't kiss you," Emma mused with her head still resting on his chest.

"Well, that's certainly good to know. And here I thought that you are in love with me."

"Nah," Emma denied fighting with a smile that wanted to appear, "I just love lying next to life-sized wooden puppets. It's just a bummer that you actually woke."

"Very funny."

She looked at him then, lifting her upper body and resting her head in her palm. For some time, she just looked at him taking in every small detail of his face. She noticed that his eyes never left hers but she just kept on examining him. Back in the days, she had always taken him for granted, a permanent part of her life and as such she'd never really taken the time to look at him, to really look at him… and then she was just glad that her memories of him began to fade.

"It's strange," she began running a finger over his jaw line. "I've known you ever since I can remember… I even spent the last couple of days staring at you… but it never occurred to me just what a handsome man you really are."

"Thank you," he smiled at her and took her roaming hand into his. "And you are a beautiful woman," he told her lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it.

"So, now I am a woman?" Emma raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Oh, you definitely are."

"Good," she nodded turning serious, "because this woman is in love with you."

"And what happened to your lying-next-to-wooden-puppets addiction?" This time he was the one raising a challenging eye-brow.

"Don't be an ass," she said with an expression that was meant to be serious but whose effect was ruined by her twitching lips.

"Then don't be a smartass." August's eyes were shining with mirth as he grabbed her hand that had reached out to poke him in the ribs and pressed it against his chest.

"I love you," giving up the fight against the smile that was tugging on her lips, she confessed this time more directly.

"And I love you."

"Still, I didn't kiss you." Hardly had she got to the end of her sentence when August's lips pressed against hers in a long kiss. "Maybe I should have…" Emma wondered breathless after they parted.

"It most probably wouldn't work," August shrugged, his nose bumping into Emma's in the process.

"Then how?"

"Magic," he repeated himself.

"You've already told that."

"I guess you wished for me to turn into a real man… so I did."

"That's it?" Emma raised an eyebrow clearly unimpressed by the answer.

"Good thing about magic, it can happen when it was meant to be. No explanation needed. Don't tell me that you always expect an explanation for magic in fairy-tales."

"Didn't really give it much thought... But putting it this ways sounds so… lame."

"I wouldn't say lame. My father wished upon a star and the Blue Fairy granted his wish. There is nothing lame in that. It's… normal."

"Normal? Magic? Where are you from?"

"The Enchanted Forest?" he offered bemused.

"Okay, point taken." Emma chuckled because it was just so absurd. "Well, lame or not lame, I'm happy that you are here," she concluded laying her head back on August chest as they both lapsed into a comfortable silence.

It was only disturbed when a loud crowed passed the house and their merry singing and apparent bantering prompted August to speak up.

"I heard some commission down in the street during the night."

"Oh, yeah," Emma smiled amused. "Today's the last day of the seven-day-long festivities that were meant to celebrate the break of the curse. Apparently that is the way how they run things in fairy-tale land."

August let out a laugh. "It is."

"It's kind of extreme, don't you think?"

"For you, maybe. But for them it's completely normal. It's just like when the Gleeves celebrated."

"Oh, my God," Emma actually laughed out at the memory. "That was crazy."

They stayed with Margaret and Joseph Gleeve for a couple of months when Emma was six. They were one of the nicest people she had met during her years in the system. Mr. Gleeve's jovial manner with which he treated children and adults alike and his wife's kindness were hard to forget. The event August was referring to was their week-long celebration in early July. It seemed that every important event in the family fell sometime around 4th July and the couple took the opportunity to celebrate in fashion.

They had guests – family and friends – over for a week and there was much laughter and even more food. As Emma was only six at the time all the hustle seemed even larger than it really was. But it wasn't the only reason why it had left such a great impression on her but because it was the first time, too, that she had really felt welcomed in a family.

Unfortunately those months flew by all too quickly.

"Does he know?" August's question pulled her out of her memories and she stiffened in his arms. Apparently it was time to address the issue they'd been dancing around ever since he showed up in Storybrook.

Emma remained silent for a long time.

"I didn't tell him," she said at last, then pushed herself into a sitting position and looked August in the eye. "I… I actually lied to him," she admitted ashamed.

August propped himself on his elbows to look at Emma more closely and at the same time encouraging her to continue. She did continue and, after sketching the basics of what she had told Henry, she started on an elaborate explanation why she had thought that lying to the boy was a good idea. She was so engrossed in her reasoning - which was apparently more for her own benefit than his - that she missed the moment when August's eyes shifted from hers and turned slightly panicked when the door behind her back cracked open and Henry silently stepped into the room.

When August finally managed to tear his eyes away from the boy currently standing by the door, he turned back to Emma just to hear her wound up her monologue, "…but I swear, I'll tell him."

"Well," August cleared his throat. "I don't think you have to…"

"What? I thought…" She was cut off by August's tilt of the head that indicated that she should turn around. She did so slowly, still feeling confused about the man's reaction. Her confusion quickly evaporated and its place was taken by mortification when her eyes rested on her son. "Oh, my God, Henry…" She was on her feet within a second and she just looked at the boy wide-eyed.

Henry eyed her for a couple of seconds before his eyes shifted to rest on the man now sitting on the edge of the bad.

The silence seemed to draw out as the boy regarded the man with an unreadable expression.

"So…" Henry finally started walking up to the man. "You're my dad."

"Does it bother you?" August asked feeling utterly out of his element. Why was he feeling so nervous? With a quick glance in Emma's direction, he noted that he wasn't the only one being on the edge. Emma was watching her son with nervous anticipation.

Another long silence followed before a huge, excited smile crept on Henry's face.

"Cool!" he exclaimed and promptly threw himself into his arms.

Surprised by the boy's reaction and feeling the wind being knocked out of him by the force he had threw himself at him, August let out a little chuckle as he brought his arms around his son… then he let out a laugh, a honest-to-God happy laugh.

Emma could feel tears gathering in her eyes seeing the apparent joy on the man's face and Henry's affection towards him so she quickly cleared her throat and blinked a couple of times before taking her seat on the bed next to August and their son. She gently ran her hand over Henry's back to get his attention.

However, when the boy let go of his father and settled on one of his knees facing her, she suddenly found that she had no idea what to tell him.

"I'm so sorry, Henry." And truly what else could be said. She lied to him and even if it had been for his own good, she felt terrible about it.

"It's all right," was all Henry said and it turned out it was all Emma needed to hear because almost instantly a huge relieved smile erupted on her face as August pulled her closer with one arm while the other rested around Henry's waist.

"We've got a great kid here," he observed squeezing Emma, who let herself relax a little bit in his arms and with a content sigh she leant her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes for a second just reveling in the moment.

"What?" Emma asked when, after opening her eyes again, she noticed that Henry's smile turned into a contemplative frown as he regarded the both of them.

"So, true love's kiss really works," he stated obviously referring to the fact that August was sitting there with them.

"I didn't kiss him," Emma stated raising her head from August's shoulder.

"She didn't kiss me," August confirmed her statement and Henry's face fell. It only took for a moment, though, because as always, the boy's face lit up with renewed excitement.

"But you love each other, right? You stay together and we'll be a family?"

Seeing the hope in his eyes, Emma so wanted things just to fall into their places on their own but she couldn't deny the fact that however perfect the moment might seem at present, she and August had a long road ahead of them before they could move on, leaving the shadows of the past behind. Not to mention that it very much seemed that they'd have to move on in a world she hadn't really believed in only a week ago.

Yep, it would take some serious work.

"We're working on it, Kid." She settled for telling the whole truth this time. After all it was his life, too. He had a right to know what to expect. "Look, life's not a fairy-tale." Emma stated then promptly scrunched up her nose. When did that statement become so absurd? "However stupid it sounds at the moment," she murmured mostly to herself before shaking her head and turning her attention back to Henry. "Anyway… A kiss won't make everything all right… or a non-kiss… or… turning a puppet into a real man… or whatever. I love Au… your father but there are some issues that need to be sorted out before we jump into this family thing."

When she realized that she and August didn't really discuss the 'what now?', she turned to him hoping that they were on the same page. She felt relieved when he nodded ever so slightly with an encouraging smile. She turned back to Henry. "Let's take things a step at a time."

"But you do believe in happily-ever-after?" Henry pressed on and Emma could understand him. His life had been turned upside down, too. He needed to hear that everything would be all right.

But what can someone with a past like hers possibly answer to a question like that?

Emma wanted to say no juts because the whole concept of a love meant-to-be and all that fairy-tale crap that followed always seemed nonsense for her but then again, she'd never had two pair of blue eyes staring at her with so much conviction.

And what the hell, she had already jumped on the bandwagon by believing that fairy-tale characters did really exist. Maybe it wasn't such a long-shot to suppose there was a 'happily-ever-after' for her… maybe…

"Well, I have you two to make me believe," she said finally.

Yes, this time around, she'd give them the benefit of the doubt.

**The End**

_Thank you so much for reading this story._


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